1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for preparing food products. In particular, it relates to a method for browning precooked, whole meat muscle products.
2. Description of Related Art
There exists a strong consumer demand for precooked, whole muscle meat products, such as precooked meat, poultry, and fish products having the appearance, texture, and taste of products that are naturally smoked or baked or roasted in a home-style oven. For example, consumers place a premium on precooked, whole muscle meat products that have the same golden brown color, crisp surface, and moist interior as their home-cooked counterparts.
While the consumer demand for such precooked products is dramatically increasing because of the products' convenience, consumers also demand that these products be healthful, nutritional, and low in fat. Consequently, to satisfy these sometimes conflicting demands, and to be successful in the marketplace, products must not only have the appearance, texture, and taste of their home-cooked counterparts, but they also must be wholesome.
It has proved especially difficult to prepare precooked, whole muscle meat products, such as precooked deli turkey breasts, chicken nuggets, pork chops, and the like having a golden brown color on a crispy surface. A conventional approach has been to deep fry these products in various kinds of edible seed oils such as cotton seed oil, peanut oil, corn oil, coconut oil, sunflower seed oil, etc. at temperatures in the range of from about 300.degree. to about 450.degree. F. (from about 150.degree. to about 230.degree. C.). Deep frying produces a desirable browning on the surface of the meat product through a reaction known as the Maillard Browning Reaction. The Maillard Browning Reaction takes place when common elements of the food product, such as amino acids, sugars, collagen and even minerals, react in a complex manner. Furthermore, deep frying produces a crisp surface while leaving a moist interior.
There are numerous drawbacks to deep-frying foods, however. They include a residual oily flavor and mouthful, as well as the adverse characterization of the product as being a high fat product, because of the oil that remains embedded in the product's surface. Moreover, the oil can degrade over time, thereby, affecting the product's shelf-life and taste. The use of the high-temperature oil also gives rise to safety concerns, by creating the potential for fires or burns.
Another conventional approach to browning precooked, whole muscle meat products begins with the application to the surface of the meat products of certain browning liquids produced by pyrolyzing wood or cellulose, such as "liquid smokes." The pyrolysis products develop a brown color on the product surface when the coated product is heated for about two hours to about six hours in a batch-type oven at a temperature of from about 120.degree. to about 212.degree. F. (from about 50.degree. to about 100.degree. C.) or for about ten minutes to about forty-five minutes in a circulating air oven or impingement air oven at a temperature from about 250.degree. to about 600.degree. F. (from about 120.degree. to about 320.degree. C.). Useful liquid smoke products are disclosed in Hollenbeck U.S. Pat. No. 3,106,473 and Underwood U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,108. The pyrolysis products, however, impart a smoky taste. Obviously, there are delicately flavored meat products, such as poultry and fish products, where a smoke flavor is not desired, so that the use of liquid smokes does not provide a viable alternative.
Recently, there have been developed browning liquid pyrolysis products from sugars, such as fructose and dextrose. The smoky taste of the sugar pyrolysis products is greatly reduced, but not always eliminated. These products are described in Underwood U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,397,582, 5,292,541, 5,039,537, and 4,994,297. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,397,582 describes coating a precooked sausage and then browning the coated sausage by heating in a microwave oven for about two minutes. While the sausage is browned by the sugar pyrolysis products, the color is not the golden brown associated with products that are naturally smoked or baked or roasted in a home-style oven.
Significant drawbacks remain with the conventional method of browning whole meat muscle products, even with these sugar pyrolysis products. Not only does their residual taste remain factor, but after being heated to temperatures of from about 120.degree. to about 600.degree. F., the meat products lose a significant amount of water that can adversely affect their taste and appearance.
Further, the uniformity of browning obtained the with pyrolysis products and the retention and stability of the brown coating, as well as the color itself, is less than desirable. Still further, because the whole meat muscle products are heated at elevated temperatures for relatively long periods of time, the growth of microbes is facilitated, thus decreasing the shelf-life of the browned whole muscle products. It is a further disadvantage of heating whole meat muscle products at elevated temperatures for relatively long periods of time that large amounts of heat are captured by the product. The product must then be chilled, i.e., the large amount of heat removed. Typically, chilling requires a lengthy, capital-intensive chill tunnel.
Thus, there remains a definite need for an effective method for browning precooked, whole muscle meat products to produce products having the appearance, texture, and taste of their naturally smoked or home-style baked or roasted counterparts. There remains a further definite need for an effective method for crisping and browning the surface of precooked, whole muscle meat products without deep frying. There remains a still further definite need for an effective method for browning mild-flavored or flavorless precooked, whole muscle meat products without imparting a smokey or other unwanted flavor. There remains a still further definite need for an effective method for crisping and browning the surface of precooked, whole muscle meat products that does not cause the products to shrink and their interior to become dried-out. There remains a still further definite need for an effective method for preparing whole muscle meat products having a uniform golden-brown color that is stable and retained throughout the life of the product. There remains a still further definite need for an effective method for crisping and browning a whole muscle meat product that does not adversely affect the shelf-life of the meat product and does not require the removal of great amounts of heat to chill the product. The present invention satisfies these and other needs and provides further related advantages.